/arch-pi

A simple script automatically installing Arch Linux for the Raspberry Pi.

Primary LanguageShellGNU General Public License v3.0GPL-3.0

arch-pi

A simple script installing Arch Linux on an SD card for the Raspberry Pi.

The script supports the following hardware models of the Raspberry Pi:

  • Raspberry Pi Model A/A+/B/B+, Compute Module, Zero, Zero W (ARMv6)
  • Raspberry Pi 2 Model B (ARMv7)
  • Raspberry Pi 3 Model B/B+ (ARMv8, but using ARMv7)
  • Raspberry Pi 4 Model B (ARMv8, but using ARMv7)

NOTE: For the time being, the Raspberry Pi 3 Model B will install the ARMv7 version of Arch Linux also used by the Raspberry Pi 2 Model B.

The installation procedure pretty much matches the Installation Guides from Arch Linux ARM, but also adds some configuration settings like networking, including a static IP address for a fully headless setup without a screen or keyboard.

After the installation you can directly login to your Raspberry Pi using the pre-configured IP address.

Requirements

In order to use arch-pi, you need an extra Linux environment (Mac support not quite there...) which is connected to the Internet and has an SD card slot.

For the Linux environment, you can also use a Live-CD like Xubuntu. Just make sure the following commands are available:

  • lsblk
  • dd
  • parted
  • curl
  • tar

Usage Guide

In a Terminal download and unpack the latest version of arch-pi:

curl -L https://github.com/wrzlbrmft/arch-pi/archive/master.tar.gz | tar zxvf -

Insert the SD card on which you want to install Arch Linux, but make sure none of its partitions is mounted, otherwise unmount them. Then use lsblk to determine the device name of the SD card, e.g. /dev/mmcblk0, and open the configuration file:

vi arch-pi-master/arch-pi.conf

Make sure the INSTALL_DEVICE setting matches the device name of your SD card.

You may also want to change the following settings:

  • HOSTNAME
  • TIMEZONE
  • CONSOLE_KEYMAP
  • SET_ETHERNET -- if set to YES, then also check the other ETHERNET_* settings
  • SET_WIRELESS -- if set to YES, then also check the other WIRELESS_* settings

Once you are done, save and close the configuration file.

To write and format partitions on the SD card, arch-pi needs super-user privileges. So su to root or use sudo to start the installation process:

sudo arch-pi-master/arch-pi.sh

CAUTION: The installation will delete all existing data on the SD card.

The installation is done, once you see

[arch-pi] Wake up, Neo... The installation is done!

Then insert the SD card into your Raspberry Pi and start it up.

That's it!

You can login as the default user alarm with the password alarm. The default root password is root.

Initialize Pacman

Before you can install additional packages, you must initialize the pacman keyring and populate the Arch Linux ARM package signing keys.

Login as root and type in:

pacman-key --init && pacman-key --populate archlinuxarm

After Pacman is initialized, it's probably a good idea to check for available package updates:

pacman -Syyu

That's it!

Installing Yay or Yaourt

arch-pi can also download the packages required for installing Yay or Yaourt, by changing the DOWNLOAD_YAY or DOWNLOAD_YAOURT settings. Both Yay and Yaourt in turn allow you to install packages from the AUR.

NOTE: Yaourt is not maintained anymore.

Before you can install Yay or Yaourt, you first have to set up a build environment, so login as root (password is root) and type in:

pacman -Syy --noconfirm --needed base-devel sudo

Next, configure sudo, allowing members of the group wheel to use it by editing the sudoers file:

nano -w /etc/sudoers

Remove the leading # from the following line to uncomment it:

%wheel ALL=(ALL) ALL

Save the sudoers file by pressing Ctrl-X, y, Enter and then logout:

logout

Login again, but this time as the user alarm (password is alarm), and change to the directory containing the Yaourt packages:

cd /home/alarm/software/aaa.dist

NOTE: The Yay and Yaourt packages are in /home/alarm/software/aaa.dist unless you changed the YAY_PATH or YAOURT_PATH settings.

To install Yay:

tar xvf yay.tar.gz
cd yay
makepkg -i -s --noconfirm --needed

cd ..

To install Yaourt:

tar xvf package-query.tar.gz
cd package-query
makepkg -i -s --noconfirm --needed

cd ..

tar xvf yaourt.tar.gz
cd yaourt
makepkg -i -s --noconfirm --needed

cd ..

After Yay or Yaourt is installed, you can check for available package updates:

Using Yay:

yay -Syyu

Using Yaourt:

yaourt -Syyua

If there are, just follow the instructions on the screen.

That's it!

Using an Alternative Configuration File

You can use an alternative configuration file by passing it to the installation script:

arch-pi-master/arch-pi.sh -c my.conf

License

This software is distributed under the terms of the GNU General Public License v3.